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Tag: Fantasy Football

  • Kristin Cavallari Talks Motherhood and Fashion

    The new NFL season has begun, but reality TV star Kristin Cavallari has plenty to do besides cheering on her husband, Chicago Bears quarterback Jay Cutler. Cavallari gave birth to the couple’s second child in May and quickly transformed her body back into shape for her TV career.

    Cavallari recently gave an interview to Michigan Avenue, revealing that she is far more than just another NFL trophy wife. She told the publication about her experiences with motherhood, her husband’s fatherly qualities, and her sense of fashion.

    On motherhood, Cavallari told Michigan Avenue that her three-month-old son Jaxon is sleeping through the night. She stated that she is more relaxed with the process of taking care of her second baby, but that having two children leaves little time for herself. She also told the magazine that she would like to have three children but that “right now the last thing on [her] mind is having another baby.”

    As for Cutler, Cavallari says he is “very involved” and that she “couldn’t ask for a better partner.” From the interview:

    “Jay is a great dad. He’s incredibly hands-on, and he has been since day one. It’s so sweet seeing him with Camden and Jax, and there’s nothing sexier than seeing your husband as a great dad.”

    In addition to her on-screen work Conrad has a healthy side career in fashion. She co-hosts the E! Network fashion show The Fabulist and recently designed a collection for shoe company Chinese Laundry.

    Cavallari and Cutler married in June 2013, after dating for nearly three years. Though Cutler has established himself as a solid quarterback for the Bears, Cavallari doesn’t seem to share her husband’s love of football. She recently told a Chicago Tribune reporter that she often brushes off conversations from people who brag about having her husband as their fantasy football quarterback.

    Cavallari got her start on the MTV reality show Laguna Beach: The Real Orange County and its spin-off, The Hills. She appeared on the 13th season of Dancing With the Stars, but was eliminated in week three of the competition.

  • Tim Tebow Still Owned In Fantasy Football Leagues

    Some people still think that Tim Tebow has a chance to play Quarterback for a team in the National Football League this season. Despite the fact that he didn’t play last year, and despite the fact that the regular season starts this Thursday and Tebow is still not signed with a team. Some fantasy football owners are convinced that Tebow will not only play sometime this season in the NFL, but he will also be good enough to warrant a spot on their fantasy roster.

    Tebow is currently owned in 1.3% of ESPN fantasy football leagues. That’s more than Chad Henne, who will be starting at Quarterback on Sunday for the Jacksonville Jaguars against the Philadelphia Eagles in Philly. Henne is currently owned in only .8% of ESPN fantasy football leagues.

    The former Heisman Trophy winner has drawn headlines everywhere he has played. The polarizing figure achieved success in Denver and even won a playoff game against the Steelers in Pittsburgh in 2011. However, his numbers have always been mediocre, at best, and many pro scouts knew from the beginning that Tebow did not have the arm strength to be an effective Quarterback in the NFL despite his success in college.

    Chad Henne, on the other hand, is starting this Sunday. However, many football analysts believe that the 29-year-old, who has been less than mediocre in his nearly two seasons as QB #1, will eventually lose his job to rookie Blake Bortles, who was drafted by the Jags with their third overall pick. Some fantasy players also think that the rookie will get a chance to make an impact this season for the Jags. He is currently owned in 5.3% of ESPN fantasy football leagues.

    Tebow is currently an analyst on SEC Nation, which is a traveling pregame show. SEC Network coordinating producer Brett Austin said of the former first round pick, “I don’t know what his ceiling is or if he even has a ceiling. His depth of knowledge and his passion — kind of where he comes from — it’s amazing. It really is. He’s dialed in from day one.” Austin added, “He’s prepared. He’s passionate. He’s been there, done that.”

    Even still, Tebow is only 27-years-old and despite being cut by the Patriots last August before the season started, he still has a desire to play in the NFL. He keeps himself in tip-top physical shape by working out six days a week, just in case a team comes calling.

  • Adrian Peterson Plans to Play on Sunday

    Adrian Peterson Plans to Play on Sunday

    Fans of the Minnesota Vikings will be happy to hear that Adrian Peterson may play in Sunday’s game as long as he is able to attend Friday’s practice. The running back experienced the brunt of a brutal tackle earlier this week.

    According to Coach Leslie Frazier, “He can do things that most can’t, in terms of coming back from injuries. We were walking up the stairs a few minutes ago, and I said, ‘Hey, what do you think?’ He said, ‘I’ll be ready, Coach. Don’t worry about me.’ That’s Adrian.”

    However, Frazier did add that he thinks Toby Gerhart will be more likely than Peterson to play in Sunday’s game against the Philadelphia Eagles. Both players were injured during last Sunday’s game against the Baltimore Ravens. Gerhart strained his hamstring, but is “far enough along” that Coach Frazier is hopeful he will be able to play.

    The possibility of playing is not quite as optimistic for Peterson who sprained the midsection of his foot when Arthur Brown tackled him during the second quarter. MRI test results showed that no sustainable damage occurred from the tackle. Peterson has already vocalized his desire to play with his team in the upcoming game. Many are enthusiastic that this will be the case.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=24WTtIHmxgI

    Meanwhile, the athlete has been tweeting about the reception he received while playing against the Baltimore Ravens where he was pelted with snowballs. Though nobody would expect fans to cheer for an opposing team, did supporters of the Ravens go too far?

    [Image Via Wikimedia Commons and Courtesy of Mike Morbeck]

  • Yahoo Sports Launches New Fantasy App With Mobile Drafting

    Yahoo announced that it has launched its new 2013 Fantasy Sports app today, which brings a new design, and new features to the experience.

    One of the big new improvements is that it now features mobile drafting, which many will find tremendously helpful. It’s a lot of pressure to be at a computer during draft time.

    Mobile drafting

    “Managers can now sign up, draft a team and win their league championship from their iOS and Android device thanks to new technology incorporated by Bignoggins Production, Loki Studios and the Yahoo! Sports mobile team,” a spokesperson for Yahoo tells WebProNews. “The app also now features mock drafting, to help fans prepare and get an edge on the competition.”

    Yahoo announced its acquisition of Bignoggins just a few weeks ago. They haven’t wasted any time.

    “And starting with football, for the first time ever, all of Yahoo! Sports Fantasy games will live under one mobile roof – the Yahoo! Sports Fantasy app – including basketball, hockey and baseball,” the spokesperson adds.

    According to Yahoo, the new app is faster than previous experiences. It also has free notifications.

    The app is available for iOS and Android.

    New fantasy app

    New fantasy app

    New Fantasy app

    New fantasy app

  • Robot Writers Are Taking Over Your Fantasy Football Recaps

    The next time that your flex player makes a last second reception to clinch the victory over your fantasy football nemesis, there’s a good chance that you’ll be able to read a write-up of the game constructed by a robot.

    Machine-generated content is nothing new. Companies have been producing articles churned out by artificial intelligence for years. We’ve told you about Narrative Science, a robotic content farm that produces articles from a variety of sources (including social media). We’ve also talked to Automated Insights, the content generator at the center of this story.

    According to All Things D, Automated Insights has inked a deal to produce millions of fantasy football related articles for various league operators, including the likes of Yahoo. Automated Insights claims that they will “write” over 50 million articles this season alone across the various fantasy football providers.

    So, what kinds of stories with the robot writers be producing? Fantasy matchup summaries, mostly – recaps of fantasy contests that tell the stories like “The DirtyBirds steal win from SparkleMotion.” These automated stories will include stats, of course, but will also be written in a way that mimics an article written by a human.

    You can check out a sample fantasy story below. It ain’t Hemingway, but it definitely gets the job done (especially for something like fantasy football).

    automated insights yahoo

    Automated Insights has already been in the sports content business, as they’ve maintained the StatSheet network. Back in 2011, they launched NFL coverage across individual team sites, Facebook pages, Twitter accounts, and email newsletters. StatSheet is powered by over 2 billion statistics that their artificial intelligence technology combs through to generate articles.

  • Fantasy Football: Check Out These New Features From Yahoo

    Yahoo announced that it has some new features for fantasy football this year. This is the company’s fifteenth year of offering fantasy football, and they’re offering fans the ability to make money by competing in the Yahoo Pro Leagues, which Yahoo says have the highest percentage payouts and most cash prizes available. Users can win up to $500.

    Yahoo’s Keeper Leagues also now have more customization options available. Players can now import traded draft picks from last season, set a keeper deadline, allow managers to declare keepers and approve and assign keepers to their drafts.

    Ken Fuchs, Yahoo’s VP of Global Media and Head of Sports, Men’s and Games, says, “We have some exciting things lined up for Yahoo! Fantasy Football this year that make it easy and fun to keep tabs on the games. Not only do fans have the opportunity to win some cash prizes this year, they can now easily improve their teams while on the go from any device or TV and access news content with just a quick tap on any screen.”

    Yahoo says it’s the only platform that offers fans the four-screen experience (PC, phone, TV, tablet). Technically, it’s even more than four screens, as the universal iOS app works for the iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch.

    Yahoo’s Fantasy Football ’12 apps also now include trading and waiver options that let players manage their teams from any of these devices.

    Yahoo is also attracting the advertisers with its fantasy football offerings. The company says it is seeing the most advertisers sign up for it this year. Advertisers include Citi, Miller Lite, Snickers, Toyota and Visa.

  • NFL.com Fantasy Football Gets Google+ Hangouts Integration

    Can you smell it? The smell of beer, pizza, and freshly-washed team jerseys. It’s almost football season, baby.

    And with the start of the NFL season in September comes the start of fantasy football. Soon, millions of fans will crunch the numbers and draft their teams in the hopes of shaming their friends, co-workers, or family members with an epic fantasy beatdown. There are plenty of popular places that host fantasy football leagues – NFL.com, Yahoo!, and ESPN to name a few. I’m partial to ESPN fantasy football myself, but let’s just say that NFL.com now has a much bigger draw than in previous years.

    That’s because NFL.com fantasy football will be powered by Google+ Hangouts this year.

    League members be able to easily start Hangouts with the click of one button from inside their league page on NFL.com. And eventually, players will see an indicator every time they visit their fantasy page that lets them know if other league members are currently inside Hangouts.

    Hangouts are going to be ready for draft time, and will stick around as a core part of the experience all season. That means that any time you want to discuss a possible trade or simply talk smack to the guy you’re beating by 40 points, you can do it through NFL.com.

    From Google:

    Because most fans select their fantasy rosters in real time, and many leagues consist of people from across the globe, we think you’ll find that hangouts are a natural extension of your (healthy) obsession. Not only can you connect live with your friends on draft day; you can actually gloat celebrate in person, regardless of where your league members are located. We’re also upping the number of hangout participants from 10 to 12 on NFL.com/fantasy, since the standard fantasy league has a dozen players.

    Not only will fantasy league business now move to Hangouts, but all of that fantasy advice and breakdowns from experts featured on the site will also move to Hangouts as commentators can hang out with fans and talk shop.

    Google has been expanding the power and presence of Hangouts single the inception of Google+ – most recently expanding Hangouts On Air to everyone and integrating Hangouts into Gmail. But this is the first time that Hangouts have moved outside the Google arena. Hangouts are indeed a great technology and definitely the best feature of Google+. It will be interesting to see where else we see Hangouts pop up in the future – the possible uses for Hangouts on any number of sites are endless.

    Google+ Hangouts on NFL.com Fantasy Football

  • MTV Turning 2012 Election into a Fantasy Game

    Who doesn’t love fantasy football? Everybody has a team these days, even my grandma. But imagine a fantasy game where instead of having a roster of Manning, Peterson and Fitzgerald you have one of Obama, Boehner and McConnell. That’s what MTV along with $250,000 from The Knight Foundation is creating, a fantasy football like election game.

    A player enters a league with family and friends then drafts a 12 player roster made up of congressional and presidential candidates. These teams then compete against each other by earning points. I’m not sure if there is an option for head-to-head game play or ROTO leagues (sorry, fantasy geek moment there). I know what your asking already. “How do you earn points?” It’s not like Obama threw 3 touchdowns last week.

    The candidates earn points through fact checking in speeches PolitiFact, poll results given by Real Clear Politics and even the frequency in which they interact with voters through social media. The team owner can even earn points by registering to vote and checking in with social media applications when watching debates. The game is said to be very smartphone friendly. So everyone can check on their team anywhere.

    More real time reactions could result in more interest by the youth of America and maybe even influencing the candidates themselves to be more responsible with their campaigns. I personally can’t wait for the first voter to go up to their congressman and tell them how the speech they gave last week cost them a playoff spot. MTV is running a beta-test version of the Fantasy Election ’12 this summer and launching the game September 1st.

  • Fantasy Football Visits Reach 3-Year High

    Fantasy Football Visits Reach 3-Year High

    Visits to fantasy football sites are the highest they’ve been in three years, according to new data from Experian Hitwise.

    Some interesting stats, as shared by the firm in an email:

    • The NFL lockout may have shortened the normal buildup to the NFL season, but once it ended online traffic to NFL-related sites saw a boost
    • As a result US visits to Fantasy Football sites increased 24% in August 2011 versus August 2010.
    • Through last week US visits to Fantasy Football sites were up 28% compared to the same week in 2010 and visits to Fantasy Football sites are the highest they have been in three years.
    • The same is true for the Canadian market as visits to Fantasy Football sites were 18% year-over-year last week and the highest in 3-years as well.
    • Search variations for the term “fantasy football” are up 53% comparing this past week ending September 17, 2011 versus the same week in 2010.
    • All of this interest plus the late start could bode well for Fantasy Football sites and related NFL-sites as the typical online traffic peak to Fantasy Football sites occurs in September, however last year the peak week was in October.
    • In fact, we’ve noticed that the peak week of traffic to Fantasy Football sites has extended further into the NFL season each year for the last three years.
    • Top DMA’s visiting Fantasy Football sites ranked by volume of visits, the New York City DMA ranked #1 for the 4 weeks ending Sept. 17, 2011. The next DMA’s include: Philadelphia, Chicago, Minneapolis and Los Angeles.
    • Top DMA’s visiting Fantasy Football sites ranked by representation of visits, Mankato, MN was the top DMA followed by La Crosee-Eu Claire, WI and Green Bay-Appleton, WI.

    hitwise fantasy football

    It’s interesting that the peak week appears to be later and later into the season with each passing year.

    There have been a lot of injuries to high profile NFL players already this year, and I’m guessing that this has contributed greatly to fantasy football visits, as users scramble to find replacements for their wounded starters.

  • iPad Fantasy Football Courtesy of Yahoo

    Yahoo announced this week that its Fantasy Football offerings will be available across four screens, including the tablet (iPad). The others would be: PC, TV and smartphone.

    Yahoo’s fantasy football platform attracted 5 million players in 2010, when mobile Fantasy Football users more than doubled from 2009, (PC users saw 5% growth).

    Mobile users view 60% more Fantasy Football pageviews than PC users, even while PC users spend 100% more time than mobile users, Yahoo says. That’s an interesting piece of information.

    “As the No. 1 sports site online as well as the top destination for fantasy football, Yahoo! Sports is providing our millions of fans with the most timely, easy to use and accessible ways to stay on top of their leagues,” said Ken Fuchs, VP of the Yahoo Media Network. “Whether you’re on the couch watching the game with a laptop, tablet or a connected TV, or live in the stands with your phone, our anytime, anywhere, any device approach will keep our users updated, connected and linked to their teams and leagues 24/7 throughout the fantasy football season.”

    Yahoo Fantasy Football

    Yahoo says its Fantasy Sports offerings alone receive more visitors than all of NYTimes.com, and more time is spent playing Yahoo! Sports Fantasy Football than is spent on sites such as NFL.com, FOX Sports, CBS Sports, NYTimes.com, Amazon.com, Netflix.com, Disney Online, and Wikipedia.

    On TV, Yahoo Fantasy Football is available via a TV app on the Yahoo Connected TV platform. It lets users view team-league standings and weekly matchups on the TV, in addition to real-time scoring and live matchup updates. According to Yahoo, over 8 million consumers have purchased TVs with Yahoo Connected TV. 

  • NFL.com And Bloomberg Launch Fantasy Football App

    The NFL has partnered with Bloomberg to introduce “Decision Maker,” an online fantasy football application that uses Bloomberg’s analytic tool to help NFL fantasy football players pick their best starting line up each week.

    “Our goal in re-launching the NFL.com Fantasy game was to provide our fans the best possible fantasy football experience,” said Hans Schroeder, Vice President of Media Strategy and Development for the NFL.

    NFL-Decision-Maker

    “We are excited to be working with Bloomberg Sports to offer our NFL.com Fantasy players the Decision Maker product for free as part of our Fantasy game, with the goal of further enhancing their fantasy football experience on NFL.com.”

    Decision Maker gives users the ability to compare any two NFL players’ performance and predict which player at any position will have the best fantasy results.

    The players are ranked by a system using analysis and formulas based on recent performance and other factors such as the opposing defense that week and the weather forecast at that week’s stadium. Decision Maker also features a Risk/Reward Index, analyzing the consistency of NFL players and indicating long shot opportunities for players performance that are the most unpredictable.